Florida department of health workers' response to 2004 hurricanes: a qualitative analysis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fullerton CS ; Herberman Mash HB ; Kowalski-Trakovfler K ; Reissman, Dori B. ; Scharf T ; Schultz JM ; Ursano RJ
• Description:
  Objective Examinations of the demands on public health workers after disaster exposure have been limited. Workers provide emergency care while simultaneously risking injury, damage to personal property, and threats to their own and their family's safety. We examined the disaster management experiences of 4323 Florida Department of Health workers 9 months after their response to 4 hurricanes and 1 tropical storm during a 7-week period in August and September of 2004. Methods Participants completed a self-report questionnaire focused on work performance, mental and physical health, daily functioning, sleep disturbance, physiological arousal, and injury and work demand at the time of the hurricanes, and answered open-ended questions that described their experiences in more detail. Results A qualitative analysis conducted from the write-in data yielded 4 domains: (1) work/life balance; (2) training for disaster response role; (3) workplace support; and (4) recovery. Conclusions Study findings highlighted a number of concerns that are important to public health workers who provide emergency care after a disaster and, in particular, multiple disasters such as during the 2004 hurricane season. The findings also yielded important recommendations for emergency public health preparedness. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Men Occupational Health Public Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Hurricane Disaster Emergency-care Exposure-levels Humans Injuries Public-health Public Health Workers Questionnaires Responders Risk-factors Trauma Traumatic-injuries Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  1935-7893
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  153-159
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043162
• Citation:
  Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2013 Apr; 7(2):153-159
• Contact Point Address:
  Holly B. Herberman Mash, PhD, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD 20814
• Email:
  holly.herberman-mash.ctr@usuhs.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:91619c438375d1a180028bb18d501b3cc105fec064c1e262394b0c6b09b75d84f66645756cf71d1bd399ad81f62f87da26b4fc66f2976f79166c5e408832f394
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195158/cdc_195158_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 322.12 KB ]